


Back To School

by Em_H



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26321647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Em_H/pseuds/Em_H
Summary: Donatello wants nothing more than to go to school, but how is one mutant turtle (as brilliant as he might be) supposed to juggle Schoolwork, Drama club AND crime fighting!? There's only so many hours in the day!
Comments: 5
Kudos: 60





	Back To School

Back To School

Early morning New York. The above-ground was buzzing with people on their way to work and school, making their way through crowded streets as the underground, home to three mutant turtle brothers, was still. Or that's how it usually went. This particular morning, there was movement, careful and stealthy as one of the four brothers made his way through the pipe to the surface, a backpack full of clothing in tow.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

April O'Neil didn't like waking up early for school, she was more of a B-type person, and over the last five years, her body had adjusted to staying up late into the night. Saving the world with mutants wasn't a valid excuse to skip school, so she propped her head up as she took her seat, hoping she'd be able to make it through homeroom without falling asleep this time.

"Good morning class." April's teacher entered the room, round and cheerful looking, his kind eyes perpetually closed in a smile.

"Morning Mr.Clark." The class chimed in, and April felt her lids sag closed, the world blurring slightly as her body attempted to sneak a snooze. It probably would have managed, if the entire class hadn't suddenly burst out into excited muttering, and a pair of footsteps, oddly familiar ones, entered the room.

"Today I want you to say hello to your new classmate." Mr. Clark laughed, and April's eyes peeled open in confusion, they hadn't been told about any new students coming in. The newbie was tall, wearing an oversized hoodie, jeans and sneakers. April's sleep-addled brain tried to kick into panic mode, but her body didn't register who the new student was until it was too late.

"My name is Othello Von Ryan. I am looking forward to joining you on the quest for knowledge!" Donatello raised his arms excitedly, his voice muffled slightly by the cold mask stretched across his nose and mouth.

"DONNIE?!" April yelped, suddenly wide awake and standing by her table. The teacher and her classmates jumped, but Donatello seemed unfazed.

"Nay, my dear new classmate whomst I've never met before! My name is Othello like in the Shakespeare play!" Donatello flourished with his three-fingered hand, bowing slightly to the class. "I hope we can all get along as fellow knowledge-seekers."

"Mr. Von Ryan has been homeschooled until now, so I want everyone to make him feel welcome." Mr.Clark clarified as he gestured to a seat two rows behind April, that statement somehow seemed to appease the entire class, even as the giant poorly disguised turtle mutant strode excitedly over to the empty desk and took his seat.

April stared in disbelief, only to get a small three-fingered wave and a wink. This morning was definitely on her top ten list of weirdest mornings, but on the upside, she wasn't tired at all anymore. She turned around in her seat, maybe she'd already fallen asleep and when she woke up, none of this would be happening.

She lost all hope for that when the bell rang for a break and half the class gathered at Donatello's desk, gawking at the new kid.

"Hey, Von Ryan, what's up with your skin?"

"I have a very rare medical condition," Donatello explained calmly, pulling up his sleeve to reveal his dark green skin. April held her breath as she watched her classmates stare at the skin, and then right at her mutant friend's face.

"dude, that's sick." one of the more popular kids in class drawled in awe, and as per social hierarchy, others agreed by proxy.

"yes, I am sick. I have a medical condition." Donatello happily pulled the sleeve of his hoodie down. "but alas, you have nothing to worry about, for it is not contagious."

April couldn't believe that everything seemed to be going smoothly, it was way too good to be true. After the initial questioning, the kids in class seemed content to leave the bizarrely colored addition to their class to his own devices.

It wasn't until lunch that she finally managed to catch him alone, dragging him down to the back of the school by the back of his sweater.

"What is going on here Donnie!? Why are you here?!" April threw her arms up. "How did you even manage to get on the record?"

"It's amazing how much you can get done with a few emails and a bit of hacking! I simply added myself into the system and voila!" Donnie blurted out excitedly, his arms raised high. "Higher education, here I come!"

"Donnie, this is a bad idea! What if someone finds out about this?"

"Aw-c'mon April! you don't understand how much I want this! I even made up some official medical records to explain-" He paused as he pulled down his mask, gesturing to his entire self. "this whole situation!"

"do your brothers know about this?" April hummed questioningly, bringing up her phone only to have it immediately grabbed and held high by Donnie.

"they don't have to know! School is out by the time they wake up anyway, I'll be back home before they notice I'm gone." Donnie sighed dreamily, pressing her phone to his chest. "they don't understand how much I want this. The rigorous scheduling, the homework, the standardized testing-"

"Yeah, I don't get it either." April arched a brow, crossing her arms. "I think you're NUTS, but I guess I can't take this away from you if you want it so bad. Everyone deserves a chance to get an education."

"exactly!" Donnie finger gunned in her direction, handing her phone over. "I can't wait until we have a test! Is there one due soon? will it be multiple choice? Oooh! or an essay! do you think we'll have to do an essay?"

"you really ARE nuts." April stuck her phone in her pocket, keeping her hands there as she walked to lunch with her tall turtle friend.

"ah, cafeteria food!" Donnie sighed happily as he was served something that was probably supposed to be lasagna. "the meal of intellectual warriors."

"I think you're a bit too excited about this whole thing. If you bend over backward to see the silver lining on cafeteria food, you're gonna hurt yourself ." April chuckled, tossing the tray on the table before taking her seat. Donnie joined her, reverently placing down his tray before he took his seat, poking open his juice box.

"Hey April." the slightly nervous voice of Dave reached April's ears and he turned around just in time to see him curiously eye Donatello, who was overexcited wringing every last drop of juice from the juice box. "mind if I sit here?"

"oh yeah knock yourself out, my man." April gestured to the seat in front of her, and her clean-shaven classmate joined them, looking at Donnie with a slightly confused burrow of his brow. "This is Othello, y'know, the new guy in our class? I'm just showing him around." she kicked Donnie under the table to catch his attention. "Othello, this is my buddy, Dave."

"greetings Dave." Donatello pushed his empty juice box aside. "I am Othello Von Ryan, I hope that we can aid each other on this journey of intellectual enlightenment! Oh, how I LOVE this place! School is amazing!"

"oh yeah, you were homeschooled, right?" Dave seemed amused by Donnie's antics. "I bet a school is a strange place when you've never been to one before."

"it's MARVELLOUS!" Donnie gushed. "I should have done this YEARS ago!"

_________

The bell rang out the last period and April shouldered her bag, walking over to Donatello's table, watching as he was already starting his homework.

"Weren't you going to get home before your brothers woke up?" she asked and Donnie snapped out of his trance to shove his books away in his big purple bag. Joining her on the walk to the school grounds. "That backpack looks just like your shell protector."

"It's a spare one! I removed some of the metal platings to make room for books and my disguise. No one will suspect a thing!" Donnie smugly bragged, when he was wearing a backpack, he looked an awful lot like his usual self. "I'm looking forward to taking off these shoes, they're uncomfortable to wear for such a long time."

"Just make sure no one sees you go down in the sewers." April rubbed her temple, adjusting her glasses. "I gotta go to my new job, wish me luck?"

"Best of luck to you, fair April, I'll see you tomorrow for another day of learning!" Donnie practically jogged to the crosswalk, slipping into an ally and vaulting over a wall until he was in a secluded place. He hurriedly took off his disguise and donned his usual gear before tucking it all away in his backpack-shell-protector. He slipped into a manhole cover and made his way home, arriving just in time to slip into the kitchen unseen.

He pretended as if it was a normal day, mixing himself some juice for 'breakfast' as his brothers emerged from their bedrooms, yawning and stretching as they rummaged through the kitchen for breakfast.

"Good morning!" He felt giddy, sipping his juice as he tried his best not to share his secret. "we have a lot of leftover pizza in the fridge."

"what's going on D?" Leo drawled, a brow arched as he scratched his neck. "not to suggest you're usually grumpy in the morning but today you're in a _weirdly_ good mood."

Donnie bought time by sipping his drink, he knew it would be hardest to keep this secret from Leo, his intuition was going to pose a slight problem. "I slept very well."

"oh yeah?" Leo squinted suspiciously, leaning forward and staring his brother straight in the eyes.

"Don't ruin it Leo," Raph grunted, folding half a pizza over before shoving it down his throat. Efficient, if a bit disgusting. "It's too early for this."

"I slept real good too!" Mikey bounced, sitting on the counter. "I dreamt we had our own pizza restaurant!"

"That sounds wonderful Mikey." Donnie reached out to pat his younger brother on the head, putting his glass in the dishwasher. "I'm going to get started on some work, if you guys need me, I'll be in my lab."

Time to do homework.

  
  
Over the next couple of weeks, Leo would grow more and more suspicious. He didn't know what it was, but there was SOMETHING wrong, Specifically with Donnie.

“I'm telling you guys, something is UP with that guy.” He urged, not understanding why Raph And Mikey were so reluctant to take him seriously. He'd never been wrong about anything in his life! “He's been going to bed early for weeks now! He hasn't been drinking any coffee and last night before we went out I caught him NAPPING.”

“it's healthy.” Raph shrugged. “I don't see what the problem is Leo, we've been telling him to cut down on the caffeine and get more sleep for years.”

“exactly! Don't you think that's weird?” Leo threw his arms up, but when he didn't find any validation in his older brother's face, he turned to his younger, and the round-faced teen hummed thoughtfully.

“maybe he just realized that we were worried about him and now he's doing it because he loves us!” Mikey hugged himself happily, his face lit up brightly as Raph nodded in agreement.

“guys!” Leo rolled his eyes and groaned. If the two of them wouldn't help him figure out what was going on with Donnie, he would do it by himself. He decided to give up on bringing his brothers along and instead made his way up to Donatello's lab, sneaking up on his brother who was typing away on his computer.

“what do you want Leo?” Donnie glanced up at him in the reflection of the computer screen, his fingers still dancing across the keyboard as he spoke.

“What are you working on?” Leo hummed casually, resting his arms on the back of Donatello's chair as he placed his chin on the top of his head, watching the text move across the screen. His brother didn't miss a beat, or even hesitate at the question.

“I'm working on an essay for April's history class. It's about ancient Aztek culture.”

“So you're just doing it for her? Isn't that cheating?” Leo skimmed the text, very dry boring textbook stuff.

“It's not. She doesn'T have a lot of time because of her new job, so I'm writing a base for her to alter.” Donnie's fingers continued darting across the keyboard.

“it's an awfully detailed text for a base.”

“I like to be thorough.” the fingers paused on the keyboard. “is there something that you need? This essay is due in two days and I have 8 pages to go.”

“no, no, sorry for interrupting.” Leo raised his hands, backing off Donnie’s chair. He glanced over to the side, his eyes catching the textbook on the floor. “Is that a Spanish textbook? Since when are you interested in languages?”

“I saw it in a recycling stack last night when we were out. It's a present for you.” Donnie said casually after a moment of hesitation. “Happy Bonus Give Your Brothers Some Rad Presents Day.”

“We had that last month.” Leo snatched the book off the floor. It looked used but rather new, with a few strokes of highlighter across the text and some post-it bookmarks. It looked interesting though, and it could technically be a clue, so he decided to take it. “Thanks, bro.”

“You don't have to leave, but don't talk my ear off, it's hard to listen and write at the same time.”

Highly suspicious, Leo dragged a chair over to the center of the room, kicking up his feet and cracking the book open to look it over. It just seemed to be a normal school textbook, pretty dry and boring to read, but highly informative. He had an excuse to watch his brother for a bit now, and he was going to take it. Hours passed with nothing but the clattering of the keyboard and occasional pauses to get citations, and Leo was firmly regretting his decision to waste his time spying on Donatello.

“Hey Donnie- oh, hey Leo, you guys hanging out?” Mikey poked his head into the lab, walking over to look at what Leo was reading. “Studying huh? Cool! If you guys are sick of sitting around, I was thinking we could go get something to eat? I'm Starving!”

“Sounds good.” Leo tossed his textbook back on Donnie's desk, watching as his brother saved the file he was working on and stretched both his own arms and all the other two sets of metal arms. By the time all three of them were in the doorway to the lab, Raph was already waiting for them downstairs.

When they hauled themselves back home after a long evening that had completely spiraled out of control, Leo watched as Donnie shed his shell protector and went straight to bed. This was unusual since he usually heard him working on stuff until the early hours in the morning. Not even Mikey was heading off to bed yet, and Leo was determined to figure out what was going on; he was going to stay up all night.

  
  
  
  


Donnie woke up early, groggy from the few hours of sleep he'd managed to get after their adventure. He grabbed his bag and tucked the Spanish textbook he'd forgotten to hide into the back pocket, relieved that he'd managed to cover it up. He carefully made his way out of his room, tiptoeing around the sleeping Leo on the floor by his door. Leo was suspicious, but judging from his snoring, he'd only been asleep for an hour or so. He had plenty of time to sneak to school and get back in time, he was out early on Thursdays.

He stuck his head out of the manhole cover, shedding his backpack and changing into his disguise, fastening his shoes tightly before he vaulted over the wall and made his way across the street. April waited for him by the front gate like usually, scrolling through her phone with a frown on her face.

“Good morning April!” he greeted, a hand on his friend's shoulder. “What made you so troubled on this fine morning?”

“it might be a fine morning for you! I stayed up late working on that boring history essay.” April rolled her eyes. “I'm bone tired and not even halfway done.”

“If you want, I can help you during lunch, I finished mine yesterday!” Donnie enthused, sad that it was over. “exactly 16 pages long, single spacing, proper citations.”

“sounds like you're on your way to getting another A.” April rolled her eyes. “But yeah, I'll take the help, thank you.”

“My pleasure!” the turtle-teen was brimming with glee as they walked to their classroom. Then he saw it. A girl with short brown hair was stapling a poster to the announcement corkboard. An honor reserved for only the most important of announcements; announcements way beyond thumbtacks and tape. He excitedly made his way over, his eyes lit brightly as he saw it. It was what he hoped.

_School Play. Auditions Today._

“Oh wow. They are REALLY doing this stuff last minute this year huh?” April snorted, rolling her eyes as she glanced over the announcement. Donatello was already writing his name on the paper.

“Donnie!” she yelled, pushing his hand away but it was too late, Othello Von Ryan was already written down, and it was in ink too, so she couldn't erase it. “do you have ANY idea what you just signed up for?!”

“yes! The stage! According to my research, Musicals are a vital part of the high school experience-” He began his usually enthused rambling, but April grabbed his mouth and dragged him aside, already getting a headache from his spontaneous decisions.

“no! You have no idea, the play is the WORST thing to sign up for! The theatre club is nothing but trouble! They always try to go too big, they never have enough people to play all the parts, and the worst thing is that they always start way too late! The play is on in two weeks! That is NOT enough time in ANY reality!”

“Their confidence is inspiring!”

“NO! they are just disorganized!” April caught her friend by the shoulders and shook him. “listen to me, we need to find some white-out and get your name off that paper-”

“oh! You're Von Ryan, right? The strange new guy with the green skin?” The girl with the short brown hair walked over, holding the staple gun and more fliers. “I saw you signed up, have you done any acting before?”

“Alas, I have never been in the spotlight before, but I feel COMPELLED to try it! The passion, the magic, the-”

“Well, we have a part that would be great for you!” The girl interrupted the melodramatic speech. 

“See you at the auditions later then? Your name is Othello like in Shakespeare, right? Just bring any text to the auditions and do your best.”

“I will, as they say, BREAK A LEG!”

April facepalmed as the girl walked away, having secured at least one victim for the theatre club. “ugh. You know this means you'Re stuck right?”

“nay! This means that they have a specific part in mind, JUST for me! I need to do some research, I only have six hours to memorize my lines!”

“oh boy.”

  
  
  
  


Leo woke up with a start. His back hurt and his legs were asleep and his neck was killing him. Where was his pillow? He glanced around, looking for his bed. It took a second for him to remember what had happened, and he jumped to his feet, running into Donatello's room. The bed was empty, he reached out and touched it, running his hand along the mattress. Cold.

“AHA!” He laughed, running off to make sure that his brother wasn't in his lab. Nowhere. “Guys I knew it! Donnie isn't in his bed!” He jumped down to the bottom floor, where Mikey and Raph were sitting on the floor reading comics. They looked up as he crouched next to them, smugness oozing off of him.

“what? Then where is he?” Raph's tone immediately changed from surprise to concerned.

“who cares! What matters is that I'm right-”

“Hello, brethren!” Donnie slipped down from the top floor and landed on the ground with a tray. His face serene and his voice soft. “How are my favorite brothers doing today?”

“uh- where were you?” Raph furrowed his sizable brow as Donnie handed him a paper bag with a picture of a donut on the front.

“I woke up early and decided to buy us a nice breakfast.” He handed a paper bag off to Mikey, who cheered at the sight of it and gave donnie a hug, and then he reached out his hand, offering Leo a bag of donuts.

For a full 30 seconds, their gaze met and held. Leo knew that if he took the donuts, he'd lose. There was something bothering him about the look in donnies eyes. He had to have noticed leo sleeping on the floor outside his room, but he still went out to buy breakfast? The smell of the donuts was too enticing, and he didn't have any proof, so he accepted the bag. Feeling the weight of the loss on his shoulders.

“I'm going to go give these to dad.” Donnie held up the last two bags and made his way across the room, and the moment he was out of earshot, Mikey spun around with his eyes wide in realisation.

“GUYS! Did you HEAR that?!”

“yes! YES FINALLY!” Leo groaned, throwing his arms in the air. “you think so too!?”

“We're his favorite brothers!” Mikey's voice cracked slightly in glee as he shoved a donut in his mouth. “I feel so special!”

"We're his _only_ brothers Mikey.” Raph stuck his giant hand into the bag and fished up a donut. “oh, these are from that one place that has allergy-free donuts. We really ARE his favorite brothers.”

“RIGHT?!”

“OH MY GOD will you guys STOP and think about it for a minute!?” Leo shook his bag at his two brothers. “something is UP with him!”

“Leo. Are you listening to yourself?” Raph mumbled through a mouthful of donuts. “What do you THINK he's doing anyway?”

“I don't know.” Leo relented, he didn't know what his brother was up to, and honestly, it was killing him not to know. “but I am right though! He IS acting strange! I'm sure he's sneaking out or something!”

“Maybe he just gave up on caffeine?” Mikey suggested, his cheeks swollen with crumbly goodness. “either way, I like this new Donnie!”

“no no no! You shouldn't like this NEW Donnie, where is the OLD Donnie?” Leo urged, pulling a donut out of his paper bag. It was his favorite kind. “He hasn't made a single deathtrap for the past two weeks and- you know what? maybe you guys are right, this new Donnie is GREAT.” he relented with a mouthful of donuts.

“if it will make you feel any better, we can take shifts tonight okay?” Raph rolled his eyes, gesturing with his donut. “but if he doesn't do anything suspicious tonight, you gotta drop it, alright?”

“FINE! But when he sneaks out to do who-knows-what and we find out Donnie has been replaced by some alien robot and we gotta go to the moon to get him back, you're all going to have to tell me that **I** was **right**.”

“oh! Like in Jupiter Jim's eighteenth last trip to the moon: Robot Riots!?” Mikey laughed and the three brothers bumped donuts in agreement. Leo took a bite of his donut. It tasted like victory.

  
  
  
  


Raph lay on his bed, trying not to fall asleep. He busied himself with reading comics, trying to fight off the drowsiness. He'd been awake for an hour now, middle shift, 7 am. Both Leo and Mikey were asleep, and he couldn't wait until he could pass the bat over to Mikey for the last few noon-afternoon hours. Tearing his sleep apart like that wasn't optimal, but he was the eldest, so he should take the worst shift. He couldn't trust Mikey to stay up late, and Leo had been exhausted from the bad night sleep he got trying to stay awake the day before, so he was the only one who could do it.

Just one time and then Leo would let this entire conspiracy theory go and they could just go back to normal. Raph flipped a page absentmindedly, he'd already read this issue and the lair was so quiet, maybe he should just let it go and-

There was a sound, followed by another soft thud and a soft shift that Raph recognized immediately. Donnie was in stealth mode? Why? Why was he even awake? Raph got out of bed as gently as possible, barely believing his own eyes as he peeked out of his room, catching the tail end of Donnie climbing up to one of the exit pipes and disappearing into it.

Where could he be going at 7 in the morning? Was Leo right? Had Donnie been replaced by some sort of robot all this time!? Had he been captured and they hadn't even noticed?! The possibilities paralyzed him for a few seconds as his brain flooded him with all the worst-case scenarios he could imagine, he felt the stress building up, what should he do? What was he supposed to do in this situation!?

“DONNIE!” he bolted out of his room so fast that he fell over into his exercise equipment, the loud rattling echoed through the entire lair, he threw the weights off of him as fast as he could and scrambled to his feet. “DONNIE WAIT-”

“what's going on Raph?” Mikey rubbed his eyes tiredly as he emerged from his room.

“DID HE GO? Was I RIGHT?!” Leo burst out of his room, pushing his sleeping mask off his face. 

For a second he was smug, but then he paled. “OH MY GOODNESS I WAS RIGHT! DONNIE HAS BEEN REPLACED BY AN ALIEN ROBOT!?”

“WHAAAT?!” Mikey howled in surprise, grabbing his head in horror. “WHERE DID THEY TAKE HIM? WE CAN'T GO TO THE MOON! WE NEED DONNIE TO GET US TO THE MOON!”

“wait! We don't know if he was taken to the moon. We need to go and find that Donnie-bot, track him down, he might take us straight to him.” Raph grabbed his tonfas before he climbed up to the top floor, his two younger brothers doing the same. “he just slipped out, so we might be able to find him in the area.”

They followed a trail that looked a lot like their brothers down to a winding path of pipes before they exited the sewers, peering at the brightness of the sun. They were rarely out during the day, when there were so many people about who could see them. Thankfully this exit was concealed in an alleyway.

“He got out of this one for sure.” Leo touched the markings on the ground, they looked like the three-toed footprints of their brother until they were replaced with human shoe prints. “looks like the robot can shapeshift, he must have turned into a human to blend into the crowd better.”

“Then we'll never find him!” Raph groaned, punching the dumpster next to them. “what do we do? See if he comes back, we could knock him out, tie him up, and **make him** tell us where they are keeping the real Donnie?” He emphasized his plan by hitting his own palm with a satisfying thud.

“bad plan. How are you planning on **making** him do anything? Do you seriously think you can hurt or threaten something that looks THAT much like Donnie?” Leo arched a brow at his older brother, who almost teared up at the concept alone. “-besides we don't know if he'll self destruct or not and then we'll lose our only clue.”

“Hey. This alley is super close to April's school.” Mikey pointed out, sitting on the dumpster scouring the busy streets. “It's right across the street from here if you jump this wall, we could ask her to help us look.”

“That's IT!” Leo turned to them, spreading his arms wide. “The donnie-bot was working on an essay for April! If that wasn't donnie, then maybe April knows something! He said that it was due today!”

“I'm going to try to call Donnie.” Raph pulled out his phone, but Leo put his hand on it.

“if you do that, he'll know we know he's not the real Donnie.”

“you're right.” Raph groaned, rubbing his head. “then what do we do? Should we call April?”

“The robot has been with us for weeks Raph, it might have bugged our phones when it updated them last week. We need to talk to her in person.” Leo gestured to the school. “we're going to need disguises.”

  
  
  
  


April was bored out of her mind. She had tried to read this page three times now but somehow the history of construction wasn't interesting enough to keep her invested. She glanced over to Donnie, who sat in his seat, eyes zooming across the lines enraptured. God, he was such a nerd. She rolled her eyes, glancing at the window, only to see three overly familiar figures standing by the window, waving at her as soon as she looked their way.

She glanced over to Donnie, who was too engulfed in the riveting chapter on rivets to pay her any mind. He threw her hand up in the air, catching her teacher's attention. “Sorry Mr.Clark, but can i have a hall pass? I gotta go use the bathroom.”

She took the hall pass and walked out, sneaking past a hall monitor as she slipped outside into the backyard of the school completely empty except three mutant turtles wearing disguises that were just slightly worse than Donatello's.

“what are you all doing here?! It's in the middle of the day!” she hissed at them, glancing around to make sure they were alone. Raph pulled his mask off, his strange red biker disguise would honestly just make him more suspicious if he was caught. Leo was wearing some sort of blue assortments of shorts and a hat, and Mikey looked like he was wearing an open jacket and a wig. They all looked bizarre.

“We need your help, it's an emergency.” Raph practically pleaded, his brow furrowed in concern.” Some evil aliens replaced Donnie with a robot and we lost their trail.”

“say what?” April arched her brow, crossing her arms. She knew for a fact that Donnie was in class right now, reading some text about cement. “why do you think that?”

“he's not in bed, and he's been acting really odd for the last couple of weeks.” Leo sounded honestly concerned.

“you gotta help us find him! Do you think Mayhem can poof us to the moon?” Mikey pleaded, his eyes wet with tears.

“what? The moon? Wh- UGH!” April threw her arms up, seeing them this worried broken heart. She knew this whole mess was going to blow up eventually. “Donnie's fine you guys! He's not a robot. He's just a nerd! He's here in school.”

“what?” All three brothers stared at her wide-eyed. She grabbed them by the arms and pulled them around the back, locating her window and pointing at where Donnie aws sitting. All three brothers narrowed their eyes as if the disguise was flawless, but once he flipped a page and his eyes got sparkly with more information, they all let out a sigh of relief.

“He's been sneaking out for the last two weeks to go to class,” April confessed and the three brothers watched with a frown.

“Why didn't he just TELL us?!” Mikey wailed, his face wrought with distress.

“because he thought you'd tell him he couldn't.” April rolled her eyes, but immediately Raph got up.

“Well, he's right. This is way too dangerous.” He gestured to the window, staring at Donnie. “he could have been caught or been attacked by some mutant.”

“it's just school you guys!” April objected, frowning at her friends. “it's more dangerous for the three of you to just stand here out in the open m'kay? Go home. I'm going back to class.”

The three brothers were left standing in the open, watching as April went back to the classroom, frowning at them from across the glass as she sat down.

Leo put a hand on Raph's arm. “Raph, he does look happy.”

“He's not even wearing his shell protector! It's right there next to the table!” Raph argued and the other two relented. “We're bringing him home.”

  
  


Donnie was over the moon. Not only had he read up on some fascinating ancient building methods, but today was his first day of rehearsal! They'd given him the part right at the audition and he couldn't wait to experience some Amateur Theatre in its purest form; Inexperienced and underfunded.

He made his way down to the auditorium to get his lines as soon as lunch break started. He didn't want to miss out on cafeteria food since today was pizza day. He couldn't wait to taste cafeteria pizza, the pie of knowledge.

“Donnie.” the muffled sound of his name startled him as he glanced over his shoulder, surprised to see three of the school's mascots standing in the middle of the hall, staring at him with their large unblinking fabric eyes. Donnie?

“Donnie- it's us.” One of the mascot's mouths was pulled open, and he was faced with the concerned glare of his older brother. “we're here to take you home.”

“What?” He glanced over, and as he expected, Leo and Mikey were there too. He hissed as he pulled their masks back down “What are you guys doing here?!”

“that's what we want to know!” Mikey raised an accusing plush finger at his brother. But then paused. “about you. We know why WE are here, we want to know what YOU're doing here.”

“You're supposed to be asleep!” Donnie rubbed his forehead tiredly. “You weren't supposed to find out!”

“you've been lying to us, Donnie!” Raph accused, and he had the hurt tone in his voice that made all three of his brothers wince. Donnie grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Technically, you never asked, and I never told you I WASN'T sneaking out, so I haven't ACTUALLY lied.” He supplied, and Leo kicked him in the shin for it. “alright! Fine! I've been going to school.”

“You shouldn't BE here Donnie, it's dangerous!” Raph grabbed him by the shoulders. This entire scene of three mascots picking on the new kid was starting to draw a crowd. He ushered his plush-clad brothers down into the backyard of the school, making sure they were alone.

“I've been here for two weeks now, nothing bad has happened!” Donnie urged, pulling off his hood to get his brothers to do the same. “I have my tech-bo and I can call you guys if something happens. Just let me DO this.”

“Listen, Donnie, Just come home with us, okay?” Raph pulled off the animal hood. “you don't need this place! You're way too smart for it anyway.”

“I know I'm too smart for it! But it has tests and projects and grades!” Donnie lamented.

“so you're just doing it for your ego? C'mon Donnie, you're probably smarter than all the teachers in this place, you don't need their approval.” Raph rolled his eyes, patting the building with a massive hand for emphasis.

“GASP! it's not JUST for my ego! I enjoy the experience of school!” Donnie reeled, crossing his arms. “I like discussing our subjects with my classmates, I like the group projects and presentations!”

“God this all sounds awful.” Leo groaned, rolling his eyes. “you do realize we have like, an entire ARCADE at home right? And a HALF-PIPE in the living room? HM?”

“oh shut it Leo, you know I like that stuff too!” Donnie rolled his eyes. “I just really enjoy it here. Please just let me do this.”

It was hard to take the silence seriously when three of the four people suffering in it were dressed as purple hippos.

“I'm with Donnie.” Mikey stepped up, giving his brother a hug with his soft plush arms. “He's happy here, I don't mind if he goes to school.”

“He has been making fewer deathtraps, so it's technically less work for us” Leo teased, earning a glare from Donnie until he continued. “I don't see the harm in it. How about you, Raph?”

The three youngest sets of eyes were fixated on the oldest brother, who felt his resolve crack under the pressure. He looked at Donnie, who was giving him his most sincere expression and he felt his determination weaken. “are you SURE that you're in no danger here Donnie?”

“You've been fine with April going to this school for years.” Donnie frowned, arms crossed.

“A fair point.” Raph sighed. “Fine.”

“ah thank you guys, you are the BEST.” Donnie spread his arms wide, and his brothers jumped on the chance to hug away all the jitters from the morning scare. “How about we all eat lunch in the cafeteria? They've got pizza today.”

“Oh man!” Mikey cheered, pulling the hood of his costume down. “This Hippo is Hungry Hungry for pizza!”

  
  
  
  


For the next week, Donatello was spread thin. First he had school, then rehearsal until he went home to get ready for spending time with his brothers. Saving the world, kicking ass, hunting down mosquitos. The usual. He fell back on coffee for the first three days, then naps during lunchtime, but by the middle of the second week, he was exhausted.

“ _You copy? Purple rain? Do you copy?”_

His body felt numb.

“ _DONNIE!”_ Donnie was jolted from his half-sleep by Raph's voice. _“Donnie is meat sweats_ **_there_ ** _?”_

“oh yeah! Yeah, I see him.” he pulled down his goggles, watching as the giant chef-turned-mutant made his way into a back alley. He fought off a yawn. “he's entering a manhole cover behind the 67th.”

“ _Alright, we're moving in.”_

He shot a hook from his tech-bo and slipped down to join his brothers, his face steeled in determination. They just had to stop whatever the pig-mutant was doing and then he could go to sleep. He followed his brothers into the darkness, his goggles picking up the heat signature further down the pipes. “he went to the left at the next fork.”

“Alright, move out.” Raph gestured, easily read on the heat signature, but hard to see in the dark. He followed the bright shapes of his brothers through the pipe, weapon at the ready.

“He's right below us.” Donnie paused as he looked down to scan the scene. “I'm picking up more than one heat signature, either he's not alone or-”

the floor suddenly fell out from the pipe they were standing in, and they were dropped into a steel cage. The entire cage rattled loudly as their weight hit the bottom, and they were tossed around, with Leo landing smack middle, ass first on Raph's shell. They groaned as they sat up, the shadow of the giant pig-mutant looking over them from the other side of the bars.

“Nice of you to drop by-”

“PLEASE don't say for dinner-” Leo groaned.

“-for dinner!” Meat sweats gestured to the open fire starting right under the cage.

“UGH.” the blue coded turtle groaned, sitting up on top of the pile of family he'd been dropped onto. “Okay guys, new plan: We don't get cooked alive.”

“We don't have time for your smart-ass commentary Leo, we're in actual danger here.” Raph got up, picking up all three of his brothers as he climbed the side of the rapidly heating cage. “We need a portal.”

“Alright, one portal, coming up.” Leo posed confidently as he sat on his larger brother's shoulders, swinging his sword, but it clanged against the side of the cage, scraping the metal. “The cage is too small, I can't make a portal big enough for you to get through.”

“I'm going to enjoy eating you medium-rare-”

“Okay buddy, I'm having a bit of a crisis right now, so if you could just wait patiently until we can kick your ass, that would be great thanks.” Leo practically snarled at the villain as he swung his sword against the sides.

“just make a portal big enough for YOU guys and get me out of here some other way!” Raph climbed up the sides of the cage as the bottom bars were starting to glow brightly from the heat.

“but leaving you in here makes me nervous! I can't make portals when I'm nervous!” the blue-clad teen was sweating from the growing heat, swinging his sword around. “I need more time!”

“Donnie's on it.” Donnie stuck his staff out through the bars, aiming for one of the metal pipes sticking to the wall on the far side of the room, a single shot of his grappling hook he held onto it with both hands as he activated the pull, swinging the cage off the fire at an angle.

“Alright! Good one bro!” Leo swung his sword, a few portals flared up before fizzing out. “come on- come on-”

“I can't hold on forever over here! This is REALLY heavy!” Donnie groaned and Mikey jumped on to help him. Raph was unable to let go without dropping them all into the warm metal, and Leo was getting more and more desperate with each swing as Meat sweats walked over, his tenderizer raised high.

"I'm a fan of slow cooking, but this is testing my PATIENCE.” Meat sweats roared, slamming his tenderizer into the side of the cage, tearing the staff out of Donnie and Mikey's hands and sending it flying through the gap. It dangled from the pipe it had caught onto, and all four of them were jolted forward, saved from the hot metal bars by grabbing onto Raphs massive arms.

“LEO!”

“I'M ON IT!” Leo's voice cracked slightly, fear and determination settling in as he swung his sword, and finally, the portal stayed.

“GO!” Raph threw all of them into the portal, and the three of them fell on their asses on the floor behind meat sweats. Scrambling to get up as the pig-mutant turned around to leer down at them. Donnie bolted for his weapon as his two free brothers started taking turns attempting to free Raph from the trap and distracting the enemy.

“Donnie use your buzzsaw to get him out of there!” Leo suggested, blocking a hit with his odachi as Donnie jumped for his staff, zipping up the line and grabbing onto the pipe so he could free the hook.

“I can't! It would take too long-” Donnie called back, dropping down his goggles to survey the situation. The heat was creeping up the metal bars fast, and there wasn't a lot of yellow space left for Raph to hold onto. He'd already resolved to use his tonfas to indirectly touch the metal via projection, but he couldn't break through the bars without falling straight into the fire pit below. If they could put out the fire, Raph could get himself out.

“Leo, Mikey! That pipe has water in it!” He pointed to the large rusty pipe as he jumped down, switching his staff to a rocket-hammer. Both brothers and even meat sweats looked over to see what pipe he was referring too, giving him a chance to slip by.

“I'll take care of this guy!” Mikey wrapped his weapon around the larger mutant's arm, swinging at his face heel first and knocking him backward with the impact.

“Oh man, we're about to ruin some poor plumber's week!” Leo raised his sword, catching up and rushing up in front. “I'll make a cut, you burst it open.”

The slice was clean and sharp, and the impact that followed popped it open like a balloon, sending gallons of water rushing out and across the sewer, flinging all four of the mutants that weren't stuck in a cage into a wall, their weapons clattering into the murky water. The fire went out and once the water had settled, the red glow of Raph's tonfa filled the room as he burst the cage open from the inside.

“oooh, that hurt.” Donnie groaned, reaching out into the dark water for what he assumed was his staff. He pulled at it, but the weight was completely off balance, and he realized a moment too late that he was trying to raise the tenderizer. The sound of his bo-staff going into buzzsaw mode sending a chill up his spine.

“Lookin' f'somthin?” The reach of his own staff was too great, and Donnie lunged away in an attempt to get out of range, grabbing onto his head as the staff buzzed through the air and he could feel it graze his shell protector.

“DONNIE!” He could hear his brothers yelling, and the sound of Leo and Mikey tackling the larger mutant into the water behind him filled the tunnel. He turned around, grabbing the staff from Meat sweat's hand as Raph rushed forward, shoulder first

“HOT SOUP!'' The words echoed down the hall as the impact knocked meat sweats clean into the already damaged wall, crumbling it and sending the larger mutant hurling towards a deeper part of the sewers. The boys stood and watched the former chef writhe in pain, their breathing short and their bodies weary. Raph panted, looking from one brother to another. “Everyone okay?”

“yeah.” The three others sounded off, relief in their voices. Then the flutter of papers caught their attention, and they turned around immediately, expecting the foot soldiers to stand behind them. But the tunnel was empty.

“Donnie- what is-” Raph reached out and touched Donnie's back, and as Donnie turned around, his brother was staring at him in confusion, holding a cut-up textbook. The sudden realization washed over all of them, and Raph dropped the papers, pulling at Donnie's 'shell protector' to tear out more papers and cut up books.

“Oh no.” Donnie suddenly felt the cold chill of death roll up his back. “I accidentally took my backpack instead of my shell protector.”

“Are you SERIOUS?” Leo threw his hands up in horror, his yellowed skin paler than usual. “how tired ARE you right now!?”

Donnie grimaced, unable to look his brothers in the eyes. He couldn't believe he was so tired that he'd mess up something so vital. He shuddered again, he felt so horribly naked without a shell protector. He just wanted to go home.

“We gotta go home, we can't risk going after Meat Sweats right now.” Raph pointed to the exit, or what he assumed was the exit. “tactical retreat.”

There were no objections, and Donnie could see the tension in his brother's shoulders as they walked, him in the middle, Raph behind him and Mikey and Leo on either side. Usually, he would have objected to being coddled like this, but the sense of dread and nakedness he felt made it easier to swallow his pride.

They got home safely, and Donnie immediately shed the remains of his backpack, dropping it on the floor so they could examine his back. “just a bruise I think.” Leo hummed, tilting his head as he looked at the soft smooth shell of his brother.

“I'm perfectly fine.” Donnie pulled off his leg and arm cuffs, exhausted. He started walking to his room, feeling pretty bad for worrying his family. “I just need to go to bed and sleep it off.”

“Donnie.” Raph's voice made him pause, and he couldn't turn around to look. He knew exactly what he'd see; the concerned looks of all three of his brother's faces. “we gotta talk.”

“You want me to stop going to school.” He sighed, his shoulders drooping. He was expecting this to happen. It was starting to get to him, put the team in danger; It was the only logical course of action.

“No, I know you like going to school.” Raph sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “-but you can't keep doing both.”

“It's messing you up bro.” Leo agreed, his voice serious as he took a step closer, reaching out a hand Donnie didn't know if he could handle touching him right now.

“I'm not asking you to choose Donnie.” Raph took a step to the side, somehow managing to establish eye contact. Like he always did. “I'm telling you, if you're going to keep going to school, I want you to stay home. Maybe save the world on the weekends.”

“Bro, we don't think you're a liability or anything.” Leo's words stabbed the exact open wound Donnie was nursing. “but this whole... situation? It's dangerous. You gotta realize that.”

They were all right, and that was what upset Donnie the most.

“There is NO way that I'm letting you guys go off and have all the adventure and saving-the-world credit to yourselves” He groaned, turning around to look at his brothers, all three of them looking at him with such concerned faces. “I'll stop going to school.”

“really? But you like it so much!” Mikey pouted, his hug was much more careful when he had no shell protector on.

“To tell you the truth, it was starting to get a bit tedious, and I miss working on my inventions all day.” He shrugged, petting Mikey on the head. “besides, school might be fun, but-”

“-spending time with us is much better and more exciting!?” Mikey excitedly finished, his eyes sparkling.

“I was going to say _'I still want to do the play'_ , but you DO bring up an excellent point Michael.” Donnie turned to his other two brothers, the ones that were visibly relieved. “I finish the play, I drop out, do we have a deal?”

“Deal.” Leo smiled, deflating into the hug.

“Deal.” Raph joined, wrapping his arms around all his brothers.

"uh- careful there guys, bruised shell, remember?" Donnie grunted into the mass of the family threatening to cut off his circulation and oxygen.

"Oh"

"oh yeah-"

"yeah, sorry, bro."

  
  
  
  


The school looked so different during the evening. Especially with a bunch of adults, mostly parents, filing in to watch the school play. The auditorium wasn't very big, but it didn't have to be, since few people would willingly go to see an amateur performance of Shrek.

"So you're really dropping out after this?" April sat on the side of the couch backstage, completely weirded out to see Donnie so strangely naked, he was so green when he didn't have his bandana on. She watched him draw his eyebrows on carefully, apparently talking and doing your makeup was even hard for turtle mutants.

"It's not exactly dropping out." Donnie hummed, looking his brows over for a bit before he seemed content, leaning back in his chair with a theatrical swing of his arm and a crossing of his legs. "I pulled some strings, sent some emails. And a few tests later, VOILA, your dear friend _'Othello Von Ryan'_ is going off to college early."

"What? You're graduating? Is that why you've been going to the school counselor every day?"

"Precisely dear April. A genius like Othello Von Ryan's cannot be contained." Donnie shrugged casually, smugness oozing off of him. "I am certain that I will leave a great wound in the school's morale with my exit but-"

"Von Ryan, we're starting in five." the director stuck her head into the dressing room. "Get the rest of your costume on and get on stage."

"You've been here a month Donnie." April rolled her eyes as she threw the fake-ear headband on her friend's head. "I'm sure the school will be fine without you."

"you WOUND me." Donnie sulked, sinking back in his chair childishly as she walked out. "Dave will miss me."

Dave wouldn't miss him.

  
  
  
  


The air was cold and the lights were bright, and April took a deep breath of the night air, only to smell rancid costumes. She turned around, frowning at the three costumed-hippos rapidly approaching her personal space. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to see Donnie's play." Mikey bounced, arms raised high in excitement. "To show him that we love and support him."

"I'm just here to record it in case he messes up." Leo raised his phone and patted it lovingly. "-to preserve the moment."

"well it's starting, so you better hurry up." April gestured to the door, the last reluctant dregs of the audience surrendering the next hour and a half of their lives.

"No. We're here to make sure everything goes smoothly, alright?" Raph put his massive plush paws on his brother's shoulders. "we're staying outside and keeping watch."

"what!? No!" Mikey cried out, grabbing Raph's arm. "I want to see the play!"

"Yeah, I need to commemorate Donnie's terrible acting." Leo objected, his voice softening up as the others narrowed their eyes at him. "Oh come on! It's for _science_. Donnie _loves_ science."

"Raph, what are the odds that something's gonna happen Right now?" April leaned on the larger turtle, arching a brow at him.

"I don't know.. Donnie would know, he's the odds-guy." Raph crossed his arms. "I just have a bad feeling about this whole thing, you guys can go inside, I'm staying out here."

"I believe that this bad feeling is called second-hand embarrassment, my brother." Leo rolled his eyes, putting a hand on Mikey's shoulder. "don't worry, we'll make sure to keep a VERY close eye on Donnie, alright? I'll record the entire thing on my phone so we can all laugh at it together later, hmm?"

"Are you coming, April?" Mikey smiled at the girl, already bouncing. "It's the first school play I've ever seen!"

"they really aren't that great." April sighed, patting Raph on the shoulder. "I'll head inside then, you sure you're good out here?"

"If you guys are going inside-" He stuck his hand down the throat of his suit pulling out a purple square. "This is Donnie's helicopter shell, I brought it so you could hitch a ride later, I'm thinking we can get some celebratory pizzas once Donnie's back full time."

"Sweet!" Mikey grabbed the square hugging it close as they parted ways, leaving Raph alone standing outside the school building. He waved at a few students passing by, but no one questioned his presence, and eventually, he was all alone in the courtyard sitting on the steps.

With each passing minute, it became more and more tempting to join the others inside, but it had only been ten minutes since it started. If he joined now he could see most of it. He was curious what Donnie's costume looked like. Was he wearing his shell protector?

Surely it wouldn't hurt to just take a peek at the show? He could go right back out afterward. Just a little check-in, to make sure everything was going smoothly with the show. He headed inside, but as soon as he rounded a corner, the walls around the front door exploded, raining rubble into the hall. He turned on the spot, only to see the silhouette of Meat Sweats ducking in through the hole, eyes glowing menacingly.

"Is this where the play is? You left this behind last time we met." He paused, dropping pages from the script on the floor. "So I've come to enjoy dinner, and a _show_."

"the only show you're gonna get is **me** showing **you** the door!" Raph pointed, his hand less intimidating when it was wrapped in a plush mascot costume. "-Or what's left of the door! Why don't any of you mutants ever just use the doors!?"

"less dramatic entrance that way." meat sweats chuckled, pulling out his tenderizer as he attacked, filling the cramped hallway and dragging his weapon along the lockers as he ran, sparks and noise roaring down the halls.

"I CAN'T LET YOU DO THAT!" Raph tore off his costume to get to his Tonfas, twirling them around his hands as his large red projection filled the hall. He caught the mutant by the wrists, feet dragging on the floor as he used his full weight to stop his advance.

"Seems like we're evenly matched." Meat sweats grunted, glaring at him smugly as his glove fell off, and his strange tentacle-hand started making its way through the projection, tendrils stretching towards Raph's actual arm. He was going to try to steal his powers!

"You guys might be evenly matched-" The cocky voice and a plush foot sinking into Meatsweat's face signaled Leo's arrival, sending the pig-mutant flying down the hall. "-but you're outnumbered!"

"Good one Leo!" Mikey bounded across the hall, his weapon raised high as he spun it around, the fiery weapon cackling in glee to be let loose. "Let's get him outside before he makes more noise! Hoo-ya!"

"Mikey the fire alarm is going to go off!" Leo shouted, loudly, pointing at the sprinkler system.

"I can't stop it!" Mikey shouted, the fireball ricochet off the lockers and back and forth through the cramped hallway, taking the youngest turtle brother clashing into the lockers with it. Meat sweats got back to his feet, swinging his hammer in an attempt to hit the screaming blur of orange and green that bounced off the walls.

"MIKEY!" Leo and Raph shouted as the giant hammer missed their brother by a hair, striking the wall instead, shattering it and sending lockers flying as he stumbled through. There was now a giant, gaping hole into the auditorium, and a pig mutant chef standing on a pile of rubble.

The audience had all turned in their seats to stare at the commotion and the actors on stage, including Donnie, were frozen silently in their places. Mikey's weapon dragged him through the hole, setting fire to the curtain as the screaming teen bounced across the silent auditorium.

The sprinkles system started, drenching the entire school and thundering its shrill bell across the halls. The moment of shock was broken, and the entire gathering dissolved into panicked screaming as they ran for the exit.

"SORRY DONNIE!" Mikey shouted as he finally crashed into the castle prop on the stage, the cardboard crumbling sadly in the water.

"OH COME ON!" Donnie yelled, twisting the small metal cylinder on his hip as it unfolded in his hand into his Tech-bo. "YOU'RE RUINING MY DEBUT!"

"I said I'm sorry!" Mikey lamented as Donnie pulled him down from the prop. He pouted as he dropped down to the drenched stage.

"not YOU Mikey!" Donnie pointed his staff at the pig mutant, holding Mikey close to his face to make sure they were looking at the same thing. "HIM."

"If the Show's over and you're going to fight-" April climbed on the stage, handing over Donnie's helicopter shell. "Then put this on, it's better than nothing."

"Hey! Meat sweats!" Leo struck a pose in the hole, his face smug. "Did you come here hoping for a dinner AND a show-"

"He already made that joke Leo." Raph frowned, and Leo threw his head back as he groaned in annoyance.

"Fine! Then how about this one?" he posed with his sword, pointing it at the pig-mutants face. "the _show's over._ " he paused for a second while he waited for applause that never came. "Aw c'mon! Then how about-" He dashed forward, swinging his sword at the pig mutant, that blocked him with his hammer. "It's Showtime!"

"Leo just focus on fighting!" Raph threw himself into the auditorium, tackling the mutant and sending them both crashing into the rows of soaked chairs, sliding down the steps until they hit the floor in front of the stage. Donnie ran to the edge of the stage, looming above them, pointing his staff right at Meatsweat's face. Raph wrung his neck as far away from the end of the staff as possible without letting the pig mutant go, he's seen the sort of stuff that staff could do.

"YOU CRASH my play! You SCARE AWAY the audience! You ATTACK my brothers, you cut open my backpack AND YOU RUINED MY HOMEWORK!" Donnie pressed a button on his staff, and the end of it folded over a few times until it had turned into a hammer.

"Yo Donnie! Break a leg!" Leo pointed down to Meat sweats. "HIS specifically! Wow I am KILLING it with the theatre one-liners."

With a furious battle cry, both at his build up frustration and at Leo's one-liners, Donnie pressed the rocket button, and the back of his hammer lit up as it roared to life. Raph threw himself off the enemy as his brother swung the hammer like a golf club, sending the pig mutant flying through two walls and into the courtyard. All four brothers and honorary-sisters cheered until they noticed the flashing blue lights and the police sirens outside.

"it'S the COPS!" Mikey shouted, grabbing onto Donnie and sending them both off the edge of the stage and straight onto Raph. "We gotta get out of here!"

"You can get out through the back, there's a manhole close by-" April bolted to the door, beckoning them to follow. They ran after her, sliding and slipping on the wet floor as they ran. Donnie's make up was leaking down his face. Leo took a picture.

"Ah-snap! They have the place surrounded!" April stuck her head out of the door, glancing at the parked police cars outside. "and I left mayhem at home!"

"Your dog-thing isn't the only one who can make portals!" Raph suggested, and all four of them turned to look at Leo, who started sweating under the pressure. "listen, Leo, we just need to get across the street. If you can get us in that alley where Donnie keeps his gear, we're home free."

"That's a REALLY specific location." Leo groaned, he wasn't very good at precise portal making. "How about in the GENERAL area of the alley?"

"The cops are coming closer! We gotta go!" Mikey whined nervously as Leo started swinging his blade in large circles in the air.

"Why do you guys never ask me for portals when we AREN'T in mortal danger?! It's so much harder to make them under pressure!" Leo complained, gritting his teeth as he flicked his wrist, watching the magic flicker out a second in. "how about you ask me for a nice portal sometime!? A portal to the kitchen? I'm sick of making saving-our-lives portals!"

The police were coming in closer, they could hear the radio chatter. April blocked the door as stealthily as she could to buy them time, her glasses foggy with the water pouring through the sprinkler system. By the time they were trying to break down the door, they could hear heavy footsteps in the water coming from the other end of the hallway. So many of them. They were trapped.

"Come ON come ON-" Leo mumbled to himself, frantically swinging his sword around until finally, it stuck. "There! I don't know if it leads to the alley, but anywhere is better than here, right?"

"JUST GET IN!" Raph shoved all of them inside, and the portal closed the moment the police broke down the door, only seeing the tail end of the light flickering out.

They all fell out of the portal on the roof of the nearby building, scaring the life out of some doves. They kept their heads low as they peeked over the edge of the building, watching the chaos surrounding the school from a safe distance.

"Aw, looks like Meat Sweats got away." Mikey pointed to the pile of police cars crumbled up on the side of the road, large square tenderizer marks folding the metal in half. They all deflated in relief, falling backward to look at the starry sky above them.

"Alas. My dreams of the stage were shattered." Donnie lamented softly, holding his hand up towards the moon. "I can't believe I memorized the entirety of Shrek for nothing."

Leo propped himself upon his arm, looking over to his brother. "If you want, you can perform it for us back home. I'd love to see the rest of it."

Donnie turned his head to look at his brother. "Was it really THAT bad?"

"Oh yeah no, it wasn't BAD, it was _terrible_." Leo laughed, pulling up his phone and waggling it in Donnie's face. "Want to see the recording?"

Donnie wordlessly pulled up his own phone, his fingers ghosting across his screen. Suddenly Leo's phone vibrated in his hand, and he immediately knew what had happened. He looked at his phone to confirm it, and he was right; the video was gone.

Donnie pocketed his phone again, staring up at the skies. "What recording?"

"How could you!? Hacking your OWN flesh and blood!" Leo mourned his lost blackmail material but decided to keep it a secret that he saved it to his cloud just in case.

"How about we all go get some pizza?" Raph suggested, and all four soaked and exhausted teens raised their arms in the air.

"YEAH!"

  
  


The end.

* * *

I wrote this thing in a single 11 hour sitting waaay back as if I was a person possessed. hope you enjoy the shenanigans.

the working title for this thing was "Shrek Play".


End file.
